News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Diagnostics Marketing Association’s (DxMA’s) Global Marketing Summit Will Convene in New Orleans Just Prior to the Executive War College (EWC) to Discuss Primary Trends Facing IVD Manufacturers, Clinical Laboratories

The DxMA Summit’s agenda will complement EWC’s and will explore disruptive technologies likely to be of great interest to medical laboratory leaders and pathology groups

Cybersecurity, wearable technology, and social media are the primary trends facing in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers and clinical laboratories.

That’s according to Debra Harrsch, President-elect of the Diagnostics Marketing Association (DxMA), a self-funded organization devoted to helping diagnostic marketing professionals stay abreast of industry trends and effectively navigate the changing legal, regulatory, and technology landscape.

DxMA will be holding its annual Global Marketing Summit April 30-May 1 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel on Canal Street. Coincidentally, the 2017 Executive War College (EWC) will takes place in the same venue, May 2-3, directly following the DxMA summit. (more…)

Hoping to Become Heavyweights in Healthcare Big Data, IBM Watson Health Teams Up with Siemens Radiology and In Vitro Diagnostics Businesses

Big data offers new opportunities for healthcare providers, clinical laboratories, and pathology groups, and this new alliance hopes to accelerate big data capabilities

Big data has the potential to deliver unprecedented insight into optimizing the patient care experience and managing outcomes for healthcare providers. That is particularly true for clinical laboratories, and pathology groups. Yet, with the sheer amount of data generated by today’s ever-expanding menus of diagnostic procedures, communicating this data between systems and analyzing data at high-levels still presents challenges.

To help healthcare organizations jumpstart their Big Data programs, key stakeholders are joining forces. One such alliance involves Siemens Healthineers and IBM Watson Health. In an October 2016 press release, the two organizations announced a five-year global strategic alliance aimed at helping healthcare professionals optimize value-based care that leverages increasingly complex data collected for use in precision medicine.

What should intrigue pathologists and medical laboratory managers about this new alliance is the fact that Siemens Healthineers owns two of the world’s largest businesses in radiology/imaging and in vitro (IVD). Thus, it can be expected that the alliance will be looking to identify ways to combine radiology data with clinical laboratory data that produce knowledge that can be applied to clinical care. (more…)

Point-of-Care Testing Conference Draws Big Crowd in Toronto to Learn about New Diagnostic Technologies, Improving Test Quality, and Accuracy

Ontario’s Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare convened the conference to help advance the effective use of point-of-care-testing by clinical laboratories

DATELINE—Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Interest in point-of-care testing (POCT) is strong in Canada. Evidence of that comes from a crowd of more than 240 clinical laboratory professionals and in vitro diagnostics (IVD) vendors who attended the “The Future of Point-of-Care Testing—A Healthy Debate!” conference here last week.

The meeting was organized by the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare (IQMH). Based in Toronto, IQMH provides the ISO 15189 accreditation services used by medical laboratories in Ontario to meet the province’s lab licensure requirements. IQMH also handles lab accreditation for several other provinces.

“Because of the ever-greater use of POCT in clinical settings throughout Canada, IQMH has organized this conference regularly in recent years,” stated pathologist Gregory J. Flynn, MD, CEO of IQMH. “It is one of the few clinical laboratory programs that brings together experts and users to discuss issues of quality, clinical relevance, and the challenges in using point-of-care testing in support of patient care.” (more…)

CMS Notifies Theranos of CLIA Sanctions That Include Revoking Clinical Laboratory’s CLIA License and a Two-Year Ban on Holmes, Balwani, and Dhawan

Wall Street Journal obtained copy of letter sent by CMS to Theranos, dated March 18, 2016, that notified its executives of sanctions that include revocation of Theranos’ CLIA license and a process by which the medical lab company can appeal

Theranos, the high-profile clinical laboratory company, had a day of reckoning yesterday. That’s when The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published a story revealing that Theranos was sent a letter by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) providing notice of sanctions.

In a letter to Theranos executives, CMS said it is prepared to:

• revoke the company’s CLIA certificate;

• impose a fine of $10,000 per day;

• suspend and cancel the lab’s approval to receive Medicare payments; and

• impose a two-year ban on the owner, operator, and laboratory director for owning or operating a clinical laboratory.

Dated March 18, the letter is addressed to Sunil Dhawan, MD, Director; Elizabeth Holmes, Owner; and Ramesh Balwani, Owner. (more…)

Attention All Clinical Laboratory, Pathology, and IVD Sales Professionals! Nominations for First-ever National Lab Sales Excellence Awards Are Open

Medical laboratory sales reps selected as winners will each receive a $3,000 prize and an expense-paid trip to the Executive War College for the awards ceremony

Never before has the profession of laboratory medicine had a national achievement award for sales professionals who are a primary source of service between their clinical laboratory organizations and the physicians who order medical laboratory tests.

That is all about to change on April 28, 2016, when the winners of the first-ever National Lab Sales Excellence Awards will be announced. This new recognition program is being sponsored by The Dark Report, sister publication of Dark Daily. The winners of these awards will be announced at the 21st annual Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management before an audience of as many as 900 lab managers, administrators, and pathologists. (more…)

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